Woven fabric and method of making the same



l 1. A. MIGEL. WOVEN FABRIC AND METHOD 0F MAKING THE SAME.

, APPLICATION man ocr. 23, 1919.

Patented Mar-.A9, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

r I Y M1/m1244160@ @Hom/LW I. A. MIGEL.

wovEN FABRIC AND METHOD 0F MAKING THE SAME.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 23'I9l`9.

Patented Mar. 9,1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Wyman/hoz UNITED sTATEs" PATENT carica.

JULIUs A. meer., or PELHAM MANo-R, NNW YORK. i

. WOVEN FAB-:arc AND METHOD or .MAKING-fitr. SAME. l

V Specification of Letters Patent. y -PatntedMaL 9, 1.920,`

Application ined october 23, 1919. serial' No. 332,785. 'f

To all whom t may concern y Le it known that I, JuLiUs A. MIGEL, a

Y citizen ofthe United States, and resident of -derived from the silk-worm, a fabric which is of special, peculiar and distinctive appearance by reason.` of the peculiar form and structure of the. fabric and its method of manufacture.

To this end the cross-running weft or filler p threads comprise relatively thick threads of the artificial silk, each s uch thread hav-- ing close to it, but separate therefrom and preferably underlying it, a thin thread of real silk. Preferably thethick threads of artificial silk have little or noapparent` twist, say not more than l to 2% turns per inch, but it isv essential that the thin threads of real silk be very highly twisted, say 7 turns to xthejinch for a thread oneto twohu-ndredths inch in diameter and preferably such twist is either4 all' right hand-forall left hand throughout ,thel fabric. Inffthe weaving, the heavy-weft threads ofthe 'artificial silk are left uncovered by the warp threads at certain points. Preferably they are floated over one or'more of the warpthreads, while the underlying highly twisted real .filk threads are preferably bound 'in byfall the warp threads including those at points where said 4heavy threads' are free.`

The artificial silk fibers are relatively,

and shrink littl eor' v not atfalll in the slib'se-l quent washing for dyeing J processes fwhilel the highly twisted-g real silk threads. being cleansed fromthegumthat stili'ens .and 4 holds them straight during'i the weaving,

will then shrink and kink 'sofas to shortenv considerably, say. 8% to 10% or morevjof their, 'len h. As a result of suchl differential shrinking, thenderlying real silk threads 'which are bound into the fabric each acts as a'contractile spring drawing in on the float after they I shuttles, do not have their front edges all portions-.of the stiff artificial silk and forcing the intermediate portions to bow outward away from the fabric yand bulgev up in the spaces where they arenot bound into the warp. '.Each such bulge consists of an arching loop or tuft ofartilicial silk pro- ]ecting very prominently above the llevel ofthe fabric, wholly .on one sidethereof.

- Where the bulge spaces arenot predetermined by floating'the thick threads overone or more of the warpthreads, the bulges are likely to be distributed hap-hazard, and. while this is sometimes desirable, predetermined pattern effects are often preferable.`

One difficulty which I have had to over- `comein applyingmy invention to the pro.-

du-ction of regular pattern effects, has been that in ordinary artificial silk, thel fibers are too stiff and inelastic, but I have succeeded in practically obviating this Vdifficulty by treating the artificial silk thread beforev zoI weaving with a softeningsolution, prefer-'.9v ably a mixture of distilled water with a sulfonated castor oil known to the trade as Turkish Red oil, preferably about 10 pounds of water to l pound of oil.

IVhen definite, suitably proportioned, open spaces are provided -for 'the bulging actionsaid spaces and the resulting arches or loops may be. distributed over the surface of the fabric with any desired degree of regularity or irregularity. tions of successive artificiall silk threads may be arranged in the same straight line so that the successive arches `or tufts constitute .a

more or less definite ridge.

If desired, the float por- Where this effect is desired, I prefer i' use a corrugatedreed to beat up theweft y Y that is to say, the vertical reeds which beat up the'weft threads are laid in the warp shed by the arranged in a straight line, those opposite the float of the artificial silk being slightly in advance of the others. ,The effect of this is to defiect the fioat parts of' the weft,- thereb-y stretching those intermediate parts of the we-ft that arebound into the warp and at fthe same time localizing the slack at the float thus giying more material for la points,

bowing orbulging of .the artificial higher more uniform.

i. ndfdesired, however, a softer and more irregular lappearance may be given by a silk, 'as well as making such bowing or bulg-v very loose Weave and by variegated dispositions of the float points of the artificial `threads that -said artificial threads are fioated over, or by varying the number of warp threads by which the artificial threads are bound into the shed or mesh of the warp.

A peculiarity of the fabric is that the heavy artificial silk threads being unbound and practically Without twist at the points where they ,are bowed outward by the tension of the underlying high-twist real silk thread, the resulting fabric is relatively` more pliable and softer and when made into a garment hangs more gracefully than would be possible if the big artificial silk threads were woven into the warp throughout, as are the little high twist real silk threads.

Preferably the warp threads are fine ,threads of real silk, preferably with the fibers entirely untwisted.

It will be observed that when real silk threads are used for the warp, and the highly twisted weft threads are woven into every shed or mesh'of the warp, the fabric is, from a structural viewpoint a finelythreaded loosely-Woven real silk fabric in which relatively large artificial silk threads are included as a sort of supplemental filler. caught and Woven in with the real silk filler at certain points and at other .points left free and floated over the same.

Preferably the floats and resulting bulges of the artificial silk filler threads are all v on the salne side of the fabric so that the fabric appears to be mainly real silk on the back side and on the front side mainly artificial silk characteristically variegated by the real silk Warp.

This is of particular importance in case the fabric is dyed in the piece after weaving. In such case. dyes may be employed which color only the real silk fibers but do not have any effect on the artificial silk fibers. In such case the dyed warp threads will give a background and an impression of cloth of the color of the dye, while the white artificial silk shining through the warp threads where it is Woven into the warp and bulging above the surface Where it is floated over the Warp will afford a pleasing and novel contrast. i

Vice versa, the cloth may be dyed after weaving with. colors affecting the artificial silk and have no effect on the real silk.

A still greater variety of effectsV may be obtaineder by first using dyes coloring the real silk a desired color and' then utilizing dyes colormg the artlficial silk any desired color harmonizing or contrasting with the i color of the real silk.

' In any of the abovel cases the smooth lWrong side of the `cloth as also the back ground of the front side of the cloth will have the effec-t of a cloth of the color of the real silk variated'by'the artificial silk.

Even where the fabric is'merely boiled in soap and water to produce the required shrinkage of the high twist threads, thus l leaving the fabric white, there is a pleasing.

unique effect due to the bulging of the larger-artificial silk threads through the very fine threads of the warp.

While there is no definite upperor lower limit to the size of the large artificial silk threads, or of the fine higher twist real silk threads, the effects will be` particularly pleasing where these sizes are properly selected and proportioned. For instance, the ltight-twisted real silk weft threads may be very fine-say oneto two-hundredths i of an inch in diameter-the warp thread, when of real silk and subject to fiattening through the stress of weaving may be twice this diameter. The larger artificial silk threads may be say four to ten times the diameter of the higher twist weft threads which underlie them. It will be noted that the-:e proportionsl will make the cross section of the artificial silk threads 16 to 100 times the cross section of the tight-twisted threads. l v

While it is very difficult to give precise figures for anything so elastic and variable as silk threads, the above may be considered as illustrative figures.

The same qualities of softness, flexibility, stretchability and slipperiness of the material make it difficult to illustrate the same satisfactorily by drawing, but more con- A 'silk threads are both caught in the same sheds or meshes of the warp;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view similar to Fig.

2 but taken on the line 3 3, Fig. 1, where the artificial silk threads are floated over the. warp and the real silk threads are wovon into the Warp;

F ig. i is a section longitudinally of the weft threads and transversely of the Warp threads on the line 4 4, Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a view identical with Fig. t but showing the bowing or bulging of the artificial silk which result from the shrinking` of the adjacent tight-twisted real silk threads;

Figs. G to l0 inclusive, are views' respectively similar to Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, but.

showin amodied embodiment of the principle of my invention.

In thedrawi" gs Figs. 1 and 6 may be taken as a fairly correctl magnified picture vvof a fragment of fabric as first woven but in Figs. 2, 3 and 4 land in corresponding both of which commonly result from the shrinking process and are usually more or less apparentin the finished product.

In all the figures, warp threads a, a,a, etc. alternate with the threads b, b', b, etc., the

threads a, passingover those weft threads which the threads'b, b ,fpass under, and vice Versa..

tightly twisted real silk threads c adjacent Lto the large artificial silk threads CZ, d.

Fig.` 1 shows the large artificial silk threads al having two portions of their .length bound in the warp by three pairs of.

warp threads a, b, a, b, a, b, and an intermediate portion -floated over slX pairs of warp threadsa, b, a, b,fetc.

Fig. 2 shows how, where the large threads I d are bound inthe-shed or'mesh of the warp,

ing, thin, tight-twisted real silk thread also there is an adjacent, cooperating, underlybound in the same shed or mesh..

Fig. 3 shows how,where the large threadscl are' floated over the warp, the corresponding thin threads c are bound into the regular Weave of the warp thus preserving the weave of the fabric at these points where the large threads are left free.

Fig. 4 shows how the fabric is 4relatively Hat when irstwoven, although the large threads vd rnay show a certain amount of slack as at m, particularly where a corrugated reedgis used. I t also shows how the underlying fine threads c and also`the weave of the Warp threads prevent the large lthreads aly fromfbulging.downward. AAdjacent threads d prevent bulging side'wise as shownin Fig. 1. .Consequently the bulge #must-.be substantially upward as 'shown in pairs of .warp threads a, as shown in Fig. 5

are crowded intoa' distance Widthwise of.

the cloth which is about one-tenth less than that lndicated' in Fig. 4. In Fig. 5, as before p stated, no attempt is Inadeto vshow any kinking of 4the thin, fine-twist tension threads c nor any lateral shifting of the warp threads, both of which are likely to occur in actual practice. l The corrugated reed, which may be used to beat up the weft, is diagrammatically indicated at the top in Fig. 1. Here Vit will be noted that the' blades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 have their front edges all in the same straight line, while the intermediate blades have their front edges extended a considerable distance in front of said line. The latter blades being opposite the float portions of the heavy threads d, tend to stretch the Warp threads and to localize slack at said portions.

The shape and size of the bows or bulges produced by the shrinking will depend upon what lengths of the large threads are bound in the warp as compared with the lengths `that are left unbound.

for the bowing caused bythe shrinkage. 4,The weft threads comprise the thi-n It will be evident, however, that if`the large threads d are bound into the warp for most of their length, and only a small portion leftL-free to bulge, the total shrinkage of the tight twisted threads o being about the same as before, the saine amount of bulge This is illustrated in Figs. 6 -to 10 incluu sive where the various threads correspond to those shown in Figs.. 1 to 5 inclusive and are indicated by the same reference letters.

In Figs'. 6 to 10,- however, only a short length of thread d is 'left free from the warp and the resulting bulge at w is correspondingly'. short, high and distorted. l

I n these figures, part ofthe bulge space isl provided by spacing apart the Warp threads. This ives inferior results but may be practised' within limits provided care be taken to have the high twist threads directly underlying the largev artificial silk threads so as to hold the latter from bulging'rear- Wardly in said spaces between they warping threads. l

-Inthis connection, it is to be noted that in actual practice all the Warp threads are usually separated more widely than indicated in Fig..1, the spacing beingvusually more like that shown in Figs. 4, 5, 9 and 10; and since the warp threads are likely to shrinking or dyeing processes, the-spaces between warp threads may become considerable.

VHence it is highly desirable that the thin highly twisted threads, o, be always laid directly beneath the large threads, preferably by a separate shuttle, so that they will bulging' even if by accishift their positions more or less during thel be in position to hold' the large'threads against rearward l13 0 dent the warp threads get far enough apart `to permit it.

cesses, as will be evident from the fact that when untwisted threads of real silk are used for the warp, the lengthwise shrinkage of the fabric is only about 2% as against the SC/f or 10% widthwise shrinkage of the highly twisted threads.

It will be evident to those skilled in the art of weaving that the points where the artificial silk will be left free to bulge may be varied both in extent and position so as to produce definite patterns, figure effects, or pictures, as well as the striped or corded effects above referred to; also that any of the fabrics -involving my invention may be combined or woven with portions or patterns of an entirely different style of weave,

y a simple illustrative combination being ordinary plain-woven silk or satin stripes alternating with other stripes having any of thc above described bow or bulge effects characteristic of my invention.

I claim:

1. A woven fabric comprising fine warp threads in combination with weft threads including fine, tightly-twisted threads and relatively large threads of artificial silk having softened fibers assembled with but slight twist, one of said tightly twisted threads being arranged closely adjacent to but separate from each of said large artificial silk threads, said tightly twisted threads being shrunken after weaving, to force bowing or bulging of portions of said artificial silk threads on one face only of the fabric.

'2. A woven -fabric comprising fine warp threads in combination with weft threads including fine, tightly-twisted threads and relatively large threads of artificial silk having oil softened fibers assembled with but slight twist, one of said tightly twisted threads being arranged closely adjacent to but separate from each of said large artificial silk threads, said tightly twisted threads being shrunken after weaving, to force bowing or bulging of portions of said artificial silk threads on one face only of the fabric.

v3. A fabric comprising fine, untwisted, real-silk warp threads and fine, tightlytwisted real silk weft threads, in combination with a supplemental weft or filler comprising relatively large artificial silk threads practically without twist, bound in the warp, each in the same shed or mesh with one of said fine weft threads but at certain points only, and at certain other points being floated over both the warp and weft, said thin, tightly-twisted weft threads being shrunken after weaving thereby causing the unbound portions of said large artificial silk threads to bulge outward from one surface only of the fabric.

4. A fabric comprising fine warp threads and fi'ne, tightly-twisted real silk weft threads in combination with relatively large artificial silk threads bound in the warp, each in the same shed or mesh with one of said fine weft threads, but at certain points only, and at certain other points being floated over both the warp and weft, said fine,

ytightly-twisted weft threads being shrunken after weaving thereby causing the unbound portion of said large artificial silk threads to bulge outward from one surface only of the fabric.

5. A woven fabric comprising warp threads in combination with weft threads including fine, tightly-twisted, real silk threads and relatively large artificial silk threadsv practically without" twist, one of said fine tightly twisted threads being arranged closely adjacent to but separate from each of said large artificial silk threads, said large.

cluding f`1ne,tightly-twisted. real silk threads and relatively large artificial silk threads practically without twist, one of said ,fine tightly twisted threads beingy arranged closely underlying. but separate from each of said large artificial silk threads, said large artificial threads being bound in by the warp at certain points only and said tightly twisted threads being shrunken after weaving to force bowing or bulging of the unwound portions of said artificial silk threads, the arrangement of the threads being such that7 said bowing or bulging is all on one face of the fabric and is restrained in other directions.

7 A woven fabric comprising fine warp threads in combination with weft threads including fine, tightly-twisted, real silk threads and relatively large artificial silk threads practically without twist, one of saidtightly twisted threads being arranged closely adjacent to but separate from each of said large artificial silk threads, said tightly twisted threads being shrunken after weaving, to

force bowing or bulging of portions of said artificial silk threads, the arrangement of ilo ' with, pairs of cooperating thread elements,v

s comprising fine, highly twisted, real silk' shrinking thread and, separate from butA underlying the latter and bound in the same meshes of the fabric, a fine tightly-twisted thread adapted to shrink and kink as and for the purpose described.

9. A woven fabric having woven therewith, pairs of coperating thread elements each pair comprising a substantially'nonshrinking vthread and, separate therefrom but underlying the latter and bound in the same meshes of the fabric, a ner2 highlya twisted thread adapted to shrink and greatly decreaseits length for the purpose described. l

10. A woven fabric having woven thereeach pair. comprising a relatively large non-shrinking thread of artificial silk and, separate therefrom but closely adjacent thereto, a fine thread adapted to shrink and decrease its length for the ur ose described. p p

11. A woven fabric having relatively fine silk threads practically without twist running in one direction, and, transversely thereto, pairs of cooperating thread elements, each pair comprising a relatively large non-shrinking thread of artificial silk and, separate therefrom but closely adjacent thereto, .a fine thread adapted to shrink and decrease its length for the purpose described.

12.-,The method of making silk fabrics, which consists in weaving into a warp of ne, practically untwisted real silk threads successive pairs of weft threads, each pair threads, held approximately straight and free from kinking by adhesive material and coperating therewith relatively large, practically untwisted threads of artificial silk,

the former' being laid in and bound by all' the warp threads andthe latter separately laid in and-bound by the same meshes of of NewYork andState of the warp threads at certain pciints, and

floated over the same at other points; washv ing the thus woven fabric in a suitable solution to cleanse said ne, tightly-twisted weft threads from said adhesive material, to

vshrink and shorten the same and thereby cause bulging of the float portions of said large artificial silk threads.

13. The method of making silk fabrics, which consists in weaving into a warp including fine non-kinking threads, successive pairsof weft threads, each pair comprising fine, .highly twisted threads held approximately straight and free from kinking by adhesive material and cooperating therewith relatively large threads of artificial silk having softened fibers assembled with slight twist, said highly twisted threads being` laid in and bound by all the warp threads and-said artificial silk being separately laid in and bound by the same meshes of the warp threads at certain points only; then `washing the thus woven fabric in a suitable solution to cleanse said material, to shrink and shorten the .same and thereby cause bulging of the unbound portions -of said large artificial silk threads.

14. The method of making silk fabrics, which consists in weaving into a warp including fine non-kinking threads, successive l pairs of weft threads, each pair comprising and thereby cause bulging of the unbound portions of said large artificial silkthreads.

Signed at New York clty, 1n the county New York, this 22d day of October, A. D. 1919.

JULIUS A. MIGEL. 

